What is I-O?

Industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology is the scientific
study of the workplace. Rigor and methods of psychology are
applied to issues of critical relevance to business,
including talent management, coaching, assessment,
selection, training, organizational development,
performance, and work-life balance.

2005-2006 Conference Committee Goals Status Update

A.Continue to focus on the conference attributes developed over the last 3
years: Relevant, forward looking, cutting-edge.

Status:
The
focus of the Sunday Seminars and the plenary session will be cross-disciplinary
work. We will also be adding a number of conference innovations, discussed
below.

B.Explore
new uses of technology, e.g., scannable badges, video streaming of sessions,
personalized program for members.

Status:

The
development of a personalized program on the website (involving check boxes) is
nearly completed.

We
are still working with Blue Sky to have video of the plenary available online.

One
workshop or conference session may be available online for CE credit via the
audio streaming technology.The
initial demonstration materials for handling this, including the evaluations
required from APA, looks very promising. Dave, Donald, and Judy Blanton are set
to discuss the logistics of this on January 11.

We
explored the use of networking software to help attendees connect with each
other. However, after having examined this, we decided that it not add much
value given the issues involved in setting it up.

C. Add special
sessions focused on science, for example, special sessions (e.g., roundtables)
on cutting-edge topics;

Status:
The
committee determined that the interdisciplinary nature of todays science and
practice would be of interest to SIOP members. For that reason, there will be
Sunday Seminars focused on interdisciplinary issues (see update from Program
Committee). In addition, the Plenary will include speakers on interdisciplinary
topics and science and practice. Possible topics will include Occupational
Health Psychology, diversity, hi-tech
assessment and selection, combining qualitative and quantitative research, and work done
with economists, e.g., adverse impact analysis, economic analysis of I/O
initiatives.

Include talks by funding officers, grant reviewers.

Status:
There
will be sessions focused on grantsmanship.

E. Continue to focus
on our constituents.

Status:
The Conference Committee is, by necessity, heavily focused on its constituents.
However, we note the following particular issues:

Conference
Survey:
Because members were just surveyed about conference issues in March, there will
be no formal conference survey this year. However, Steve, Doug, Dave, and Donald
edited and augmented the current conference-related items on the member survey.

International
Attendees: Leaetta will address international issues in her TIP column.
Julie examined the number of international reviewers and worked to recruit more
of them.

Beginning
Practitioners: We will have a session where more senior members provide guidance
and answer questions.

Mid-Career
Members:

To
develop cohorts of members who wish to meet each year, we experimented with the
Doctoral Consortium reunion last year. We will continue this reunion this year
in Dallas (chaired by Rudy Sanchez and Ted Hayes) and determine its viability.

F. Check out the
Dallas location to facilitate logistics for members.

Issues
specific to Adams Mark and their resolution:

This
issue was one of the most time-consuming this year because of issues with the
hotel facility itself. Specifically, the Dallas Adams Mark has the following
advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages:

Very
inexpensive sleeping rooms relative to recent SIOP conferences.

Located
right on the train line, very close to entertainment.

Adequate
presentation rooms.

Disadvantages:

There
is no standard exhibit hall. Instead the hotel suggested the exhibit hall be in
the second floor common area, which would have been crowded and potentially
unsightly. Mock-ups of this area as an exhibit hall showed the area to be
extremely crowded and choppy given the number of booths we now have.

The
hotel did not originally plan to give us some of their best presentation rooms,
particularly on the first day for the plenary session. Several of their
suggested presentation rooms were too small.

Resolution:

We
have made significant gains in this area, and we believe the situation is under
control. Specifically:

The
hotel will give us the best presentation rooms on Friday; this will provide an
outstanding venue for the plenary session. Moreover, these additional rooms on
Friday will provide us with great space for the program.

Donald
and Dave have worked out that the exhibit hall and posters will be in a
combination of break out rooms (Lone Star A & B) which will actually be a
larger space than we had last year (and very nice!)

Rather
than being used for the exhibit hall, the common area on the second floor will
now be free during the day for members to meet and network. This large space
will all be used for the evening receptions (and should be very nice for this
purpose.)

There
are also numerous other meeting rooms available to the AO to assign to groups
needing meeting space.

In
summary, we believe that these issues are largely solved, and that the facility
will work well for SIOP.

Room block update: As
of December 12, members had booked 50.2% of the room block, or 2,449 rooms,
versus 2,375 rooms at this time last year. This is very good news given that the
2006 conference will be held at an unusually late time in the year (May.)

Local Arrangements:

Local
arrangements are also going well:

Tour:
Michelle Collins (Local Arrangements) had put together a tour with Texas
Instruments. Notably, we have most of the many of the tour expenses covered by
sponsors so that there will be few if any fees for attendees.

SIOpen:
Dan Sachau has arranged the SIOPen to be held at the Tour 18 golf course in
Dallas, one of the top courses in the country.

Fun
Run: Michelle worked with Paul and Pat Sackett and Kevin Williams on this. The
Fun Run is under control this year.

Michelle
is putting together materials for local arrangements; she will contact the
Visitors Bureau. This should include attractions nearby, how to get to them
via train, etc.

Conference
Registration Materials:
The conference registration materials were assembled in early November. Thanks
to all of the Conference Committee and to the AO for all of their work on this
monumental task!

G. Try
to land important speaker(s) for special programming.

Status:
The
Conference Committee discussed several possibilities, and Leaetta, Donald, and
Jeff McHenry discussed these ideas further. In the end, we decided not to go for
an important outside speaker this year, since we cannot afford to give up a
block of programming, and putting an outside speaker into the plenary would
detract from the presidential address and the other important aspects of the
plenary. This idea will be revisited in New York since we expect it to be the
first 3-day conference.

member communications about Conference planning
decisions and Conference goals;

Conference
activities and events; and Conference sponsorship.

Outreach
to all members, e.g., international members, minority members.

Status: We have continued to keep members updated through TIP articles
and, when necessary, emails (as approved by the president).For
example, Donald wrote an article for the July TIP, and Julie and Donald
wrote an article about the conference highlights in the October TIP. We
will provide additional email updates as the conference approaches. However, we
will be sure to limit the number of these so as not to intrude upon members.

Goal
3: Ensure that the 2006 Conference provides a 5-10% responsibility margin to
SIOP.This
would include:

We raised fees for
pre-registered members by $10 this year. We raised on-site registration for
members by $15 to encourage members to register early and simplify conference
planning.

Larger increases were given
to non-members ($30-40), because, since 2002, increases for non-members had gone
up at a lower rate than that for members.

This budgeting resulted in a
good cushion regarding SIOPs profit margin (10.1% for the overall conference
budget, 4.8% for the conference specifically). These increases should allow us
to make only small increases in New York (2007), where sleeping rooms will be
more expensive than in Dallas.

Working
with the Financial Officer, we have continued to view conference funding on a
long-term basis rather than year-to-year. Also, we note again that the
registration fees for the SIOP conference is still very low compared to most
other conferences.

Finally, we note that we
also trying to find additional sponsors, e.g., for the audio streaming of
sessions.

Goal 4: Work with the Financial Officer and LRP on developing an approach
to Society and Conference sponsorship that provides a valuable opportunity for
sponsors to reach our members, increases annual sponsor revenue by 10%, and is
responsive to member concerns about the commercialization of the Society and
Conference.

Status: In addition the regular sponsorships for booths, promotions, etc., we
have added sponsorships for wireless internet and audio streaming.

Goal 5: Complete pre-planning for the 2006 and 2007 Conferences,
including contract modifications required to ensure that those sites will meet
our evolving needs.

Status:
The
conference committee met in Dallas in June to check out the 2006 conference
site. (See issues and comments regarding the Dallas site under Goal 1F, above.)
We also discussed the issues with the 2007 (New York) conference, which will be
chaired by Doug Pugh. These issues include the transition to the 3-day
conference in 2007, which Dave Nershi is still getting in writing from the New
York hotel. Moreover, we have negotiated a contract addendum for San Francisco
in 2008 to accommodate the new 3-day conference, paying particular attention to
Saturday night, which is the most difficult night to estimate sleeping rooms
under the new conference schedule. Thanks to Dave, Doug, and Steve Ashworth for
their input on this decision, which the SF hotel has told us can continue to be
negotiated. The New Orleans Sheraton has let Dave know that they are quite
flexible regarding our changed schedule.

Our
next committee meeting will be the weekend of February 4 in Dallas.

Goal
6: Begin scouting properties for the 2012 Conference using the RFP process.

Status:
Dave Nershi is putting out feelers with a number of hotel chains to see what
future properties may be available. Given that we just signed contracts for 2010
and 2011 (Atlanta and Chicago), we do not necessarily expect a signed contract
this year for 2012 unless a very attractive site presents itself.

Goal 7: Determine when the Conference will begin the 3-day format.
This will involve checking with future conference sites, adjusting contracts as
necessary.

Status:
Although it was too late to go to this format in
2006 (Dallas), we will begin the new schedule in New York in 2007. As noted
above, Dave Nershi is still getting an addendum in writing from the New York
hotel. Moreover, we have negotiated a contract addendum for San Francisco in
2008 to accommodate the new 3-day conference. The New Orleans Sheraton has let
Dave know that they are quite flexible regarding our changed schedule.